Long-running Martin Luther King Jr. Day celebrations – some of the oldest of its kind in Ohio – are continuing their traditions with ceremonies for the upcoming holiday.
Two Northeast Ohio organizations that have been celebrating the life of Martin Luther King Jr. longer than the federal holiday – which is Monday – has existed. Both of them predate President Ronald Reagan’s 1983 signing of the King Holiday Bill.
Canton’s Martin Luther King Day Community Celebration is celebrating its 50th anniversary Monday, which was first created in 1975 by Stephanie Rushin Patrick, a Canton educator who is also an advocate for Black youth and Black teachers and administrators. She is still the celebration’s chairperson to this day.
“I’ve always taught this in classrooms and when I was a principal, I made sure it was taught in my building and I’ve always worked on it throughout our community,” Rushin Patrick said.
Canton’s was the first Martin Luther King Jr. Day celebration in all of Ohio, she said.
“I’m more concerned that we are still struggling for the same things that Dr. King died for,” said Rushin Patrick.
The Canton event will honor several community leaders and feature performances by the Mt. Zion Church of God in Christ choir. It starts at 10:30 a.m. Monday.
In Akron, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration Day Coalition is keeping its 46-year tradition alive with a commemoration of civil rights activists, musical performances and a scholarship presentation by the Akron Chapter of the NAACP on Sunday at 4 p.m. at the First Congregational Church of Akron.
Coalition coordinator Cazzell Smith said he wants this celebration to empower the youth.
“We want younger people to realize that some of the privileges and opportunities they have is because of Dr. Martin Luther King,” Smith said.
This year, Martin Luther King Jr. Day falls on the same day as President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration.
Smith said concerns over won’t deter his committee's efforts to celebrate, although Trump has taken positions against some of the things King stood for.
The majority — 86% —of Black voters voted for the Democrat Kamala Harris, exit polls show.
“We’re going to have a rough four years under the leadership of Donald Trump, but it’s going to make us stronger in the long run,” Smith said. “We have no power to say that he shouldn’t be inaugurated on Martin Luther King Day.”
